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Network of Conservation Educators & Practitioners

Environmental and along the in Northeast

Author(s): Costanza Rampini

Source: Lessons in Conservation, Vol. 7, pp. 24–35

Published by: Network of Conservation Educators and Practitioners, Center for and Conservation, American Museum of Natural History

Stable URL: ncep.amnh.org/linc/

This article is featured in Lessons in Conservation, the official journal of the Network of Conservation Educators and Practitioners (NCEP). NCEP is a collaborative project of the American Museum of Natural History’s Center for Biodiversity and Conservation (CBC) and a number of institutions and individuals around the world. Lessons in Conservation is designed to introduce NCEP teaching and learning resources (or “modules”) to a broad audience. NCEP modules are designed for undergraduate and professional level education. These modules—and many more on a variety of conservation topics—are available for free download at our website, ncep.amnh.org.

To learn more about NCEP, visit our website: ncep.amnh.org.

All reproduction or distribution must provide full citation of the original and provide a copyright notice as follows:

“Copyright 2017, by the authors of the material and the Center for Biodiversity and Conservation of the American Museum of Natural History. All rights reserved.”

Illustrations obtained from the American Museum of Natural History’s library: images.library.amnh.org/digital/ 24 CASE STUDY Environmental and Climate Justice along the Brahmaputra River in Costanza Rampini

Environmental Studies Department, University of California, Santa Cruz, California, USA

ABSTRACT

The glaciers of the are the source of all of Asia’s major rivers and are crucial to Asia’s water supply, economies, and livelihoods. The Himalayan region is uniquely vulnerable to the impacts of anthropogenic , while also becoming one of the most dammed regions in the world. This case study explores the unequal distribution of the impacts of climate change and dam building along the Brahmaputra River in Northeast India. It examines how the combined impacts of these two processes negatively affect local communities and explores environmental and climate justice issues. In discussing climate change impacts and development in Northeast India, this case study presents questions on the role of dams as a solution to climate change and as a form of .

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

After completing this case study, students should be able to: 1. Describe current climate change threats in the Himalayan region and how they will impact the people of Northeast India; 2. Identify the factors contributing to hydropower development along the Brahmaputra River; 3. Explain and differentiate amongst the various environmental and climate justice issues relating to dam building along the Brahmaputra River; 4. Discuss the combined impacts of climate change and hydropower development on the riparian communities of Northeast India; and 5. Analyze and evaluate the role of hydropower development as an approach to address the climate change crisis and as a form of sustainable development, especially in areas where water resources are vulnerable to climate change impacts.

1. BACKGROUND

1.1. The Himalayas: “Asia’s Water Towers” 1.2. The Brahmaputra River

The Himalayas are the highest mountain chain in the The Brahmaputra River originates in the glaciers of world. They are also a repository for the largest amount , in the Himalayas, and flows through of ice outside of the poles, with Himalayan glaciers , Northeast India, and , where it merges the source of all of Asia’s major rivers (Figure 1). Rivers with the other rivers, before discharging into the Bay originating in the Himalayas are crucial to Asia’s water of (Figure 2). Its flow depends primarily on supply, economies, and livelihoods1: Approximately 1.5 contributions from the South Asian summer monsoon2 billion people rely on the runoff of these rivers in the rains and the melting of Himalayan snow and ice, both Himalayan mountain region and further downstream of which occur between June and September ( in numerous countries including , India, Pakistan, 1985). Throughout its course, the Brahmaputra supports Nepal, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Burma, Thailand, and Lao a variety of different ecosystems from alpine meadows PDR (Immerzeel et al. 2010; Xu et al. 2009). For this to tropical forests (Liu et al. 2012), as well as human reason, the Himalayas are often referred to as “Asia’s communities. Water Towers.” The Brahmaputra is one of China and India’s largest rivers both in terms of discharge and length (Shi et al. 2011), and is one of the most sediment3-charged rivers

LESSONS IN CONSERVATION ISSUE NO. 7 JANUARY 2017 CASE STUDY 25

Figure 1. Asia’s rivers with sources in the Himalayas. Kazakhstan w llo Ye

In dus e tz g n Tibet Ya H tra im rahmapu China al B aya s Nepal y Agra d d a Red Ga w n a ge r s r I

n e e

w

India Bangladesh l a

S M Lao PDR e k o Vietnam Thailand n g Myanmar

0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 km Cambodia North

Figure 2. The Brahmaputra river basin with the and Tibet states highlighted putra ahma in orange and purple Br respectively, and labeled. Bhutan Nepal Arunachal Pradesh

ges Assam Gan

India Bangladesh

0 250 500 750 1000 km North

in the world (Goswami 1985). In India, the Brahmaputra the river and its tributaries traverse steep slopes as River and its tributaries4 are considered the “lifeline” of they go from the heights of Tibetan Plateau towards the the Northeastern region and its people, a majority of . In Assam, much of the power of the river whom depend on natural resources for their livelihoods gets dissipated and the river becomes highly braided6 (Vagholikar & Das 2010). Though the Brahmaputra river as it deposits vast amounts of silt and sand on the basin5 drains all of the states of Northeastern India, Assamese floodplains7. except for Sikkim, a majority of its basin lies in the states of Arunachal Pradesh and Assam. In Arunachal Pradesh, As a result of the unique topography of the Brahmaputra

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Figure 3. Rice fields along the Dikrong riverbank, a tributary of the Brahmaputra, in Assam (photo credit: Costanza Rampini 2014).

river basin and the yearly onset of the South Asian Already, increased surface temperatures due to climate summer monsoon—characterized by heavy rains— change are causing Himalayan glaciers and snowpacks destructive floods are a recurrent and major challenge to shrink (Immerzeel et al. 2013). This suggests that for the people of Arunachal Pradesh and Assam during glacier-fed Himalayan rivers, such as the Brahmaputra, the summer months. Summer floods cause tremendous could experience an increased variation in flows and damage to houses, fields, livestock, public utilities, even become entirely seasonal in the near future (Cruz et , and drinking water sources, and also al. 2007). As Himalayan glaciers shrink, Himalayan rivers lead to the spread of disease and the loss of human will first experience an increase in runoff as a result of lives. At the same time, the Brahmaputra River provides the added meltwater, followed by a rapid and long-term countless ecosystem services8 to the people of Arunachal decline in river runoffs as glaciers move past a critical Pradesh and Assam, including and fertilization threshold12 (Baraer et al. 2012). Himalayan glaciers of agricultural fields (Figure 3), groundwater recharge, are expected to reach this threshold around 2050 transportation, food sources, and cultural services such (Immerzeel et al. 2013), at which point the Brahmaputra as recreation and religious activities. may experience a decrease in the average upstream water supply by nearly 20% (Immerzeel et al. 2010). 2. CLIMATE CHANGE IN THE HIMALAYAS The impacts on water supply for those people who rely As the world’s highest mountain chain, the Himalayas on the river are two-fold. On one hand, the short-term are uniquely vulnerable to the impacts of anthropogenic increase in glacial melt and Brahmaputra River runoff climate change9, with important implications for the can exacerbate the challenge of summer floods for local communities and ecosystems that depend on Himalayan communities living in the river basin. On the other hand, rivers. This section details some of the impacts of climate the long-term decrease in glacial melt will be especially change on water resources in the region, particularly felt during the winter dry season when glacial melt in the Brahmaputra river basin, and discusses climate contribution to streamflow is most important (Baraer justice10 implications for local communities. et al. 2012; Cruz et al. 2007). During the winter season, people living in the Brahmaputra river basin rely on the 2.1. The So-Called “The Roof of the World is river for irrigating winter crops and for other important Melting’” purposes such as laundry, bathing, drinking water for animals, and recreational and religious activities. A

Increasing anthropogenic emissions of CO2 and other reduction in winter season flows of the Brahmaputra greenhouse gases11 are expected to cause a 2–2.5 °C River will affect the capacity of local people to rely on temperature rise in the Himalayan region between 2021 these important services during the winter months. and 2050 (Immerzeel et al. 2013; Eriksson et al. 2009).

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2.2. Climate Change Impacts on the South Asian emissions (however, the country as Summer Monsoon a whole is industrializing rapidly, and emissions levels have been steadily rising). Yet as warmer temperatures The Brahmaputra River is also heavily cause changes to the Brahmaputra River flows and flood influenced by monsoon rains during the summer regime, the people of Arunachal Pradesh and Assam season (Thayyen & Gergan 2010), which coincide with will bear a disproportionate burden of climate change the melt season of Himalayan glaciers. Anthropogenic impacts. Approximately 40% of Assam’s land surface climate change is altering the South Asian summer is vulnerable to flood (NRSC 2011). Annually, the area monsoon, and climate models project an increase in the of land affected by floods in Assam ranges from one frequency of heavy events and a decrease to nearly four million hectares, and vast areas of both in the frequency of light rain events during the summer Assam and Arunachal Pradesh are affected by flood- monsoon season (Hijioka et al. 2014). More frequent related erosion (World Bank 2007). heavy rain events will exacerbate the challenge of floods (Apurv et al. 2015). At the same time, Assamese and Arunachali farmers depend mostly on summer monsoon precipitation and But the range of effects of climate change on the South sediment deposition from the river to provide irrigation Asian summer monsoon are still poorly understood, and and fertilization for their fields. Less than 17% of Assam’s remain the largest source of uncertainty in determining cropland is under irrigation schemes (Department of the future runoff of Himalayan rivers such as the Irrigation 2013), and fertilizer use in both Assam and Brahmaputra (Immerzeel et al. 2013). For example, Arunachal Pradesh is low, with 63 kg and 3 kg of fertilizer different climate models disagree as to whether used per hectare respectively, compared to the national changes in the water cycle will compensate for a long- average of 135 kg per hectare (ICC 2013). Changes in term reduction in glacial melt by increasing annual precipitation patterns and the long-term reduction precipitation, or exacerbate the problem by decreasing in river flows pose a challenge to rain-fed precipitation (Immerzeel et al. 2013). agriculture in the region, making it increasingly difficult for subsistence farmers to sustain their livelihoods. 2.3. Climate Justice Overall, climate change impacts on floods and water availability increase damages to traditional livelihoods, Overall, climate change is an impending threat to agricultural crops, and infrastructure, as well as an Asia’s water towers, with cascading negative effects on increase in human displacement and the number of biodiversity, local livelihoods, water and food security13, climate refugees in the region (ICIMOD 2009). and the region’s economies (Cruz et al. 2007; Crow & Singh 2009; Pomeranz 2009; Xu et al. 2009). Particularly The fate of the and Arunachal important to the people of Northeast India will be the Pradesh in the face of climate change impacts provides impacts of climate change on the flood regime of the an important lesson for understanding the unequal Brahmaputra River, on flow levels during the dry winter distribution of benefits and losses as a result of climate season, as well as the potential long-term reduction in change, an issue known as climate justice. While river flows. Assamese and Arunachali people have reaped few benefits from the industrialization of rich countries in The industrialization and economic growth of Western the Global North14 and even from the industrialization countries, beginning in the 19th century, is largely and economic growth of India, their largely sustainable responsible for the emission of greenhouse gases that agricultural livelihoods are directly threatened by the are causing anthropogenic climate change (Liverman impact of anthropogenic climate change on key water 2009). Northeast India is one of the poorest and resources. least industrialized regions in India, with 70% of the dependent on agricultural livelihoods (ICC 2013), and hence bears little responsibility for past

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3. DAMMING THE HIMALAYAS the flows of the Brahmaputra river basin give it higher hydropower potential than all other river basins in India The countries that make up the Himalayan region have (CEA 2014), 87% of which remains unexploited (CEA plans to build over 400 hydroelectric projects along 2014). This potential is concentrated in the northeastern Himalayan Rivers, transforming the region into one of state of Arunachal Pradesh, where the river and its the most dammed regions in the world (Walker 2013). north-bank tributaries flow across steep slopes as they go from the Himalayan Mountains to the flat 3.1. Hydropower Development Along The of Assam. Brahmaputra River In India As of 2012, the government of Arunachal Pradesh allotted As of 2014, India is the world’s second largest country contracts for 140 new dams along the Brahmaputra’s in terms of population and the third largest contributor north-bank tributaries—44 of which are mega-dams to global greenhouse gases (GHGs) emissions annually above 100 MW in capacity (MDONER 2012)—in an (World Bank 2016; Olivier et al. 2015). Therefore, the effort to meet India’s growing demands, promote Indian government is confronted with the challenge of economic and sustainable development17 (Verghese providing energy for a growing economy, while also facing 2010), and curb GHG emissions from energy production international pressure to reduce its footprint. (Government of Arunachal Pradesh 2008) (Figure 4).

In the last decade, the Brahmaputra River has become 4. DAMS AND ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE the epicenter of India’s development efforts. The river has been identified as India’s “future Dam-building along the Brahmaputra, particularly in powerhouse” representing approximately 40% of India’s the context of climate change, exemplifies the unequal total hydropower potential15 when considering the distribution of environmental costs and benefits across hydroelectricity16 generating potential of all Indian rivers groups of people and across scales that is the focus (MDONER 2012). The amount of water and the force of of environmental justice18 work. The government of

Figure 4: The Ranganadi Hydroelectric Project (405 MW) in Arunachal Pradesh (photo credit: Costanza Rampini, 2014).

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Arunachal Pradesh profits from the allotted hydropower dam reservoir and thus minimizing conflict with nearby projects, India’s urban centers largely benefit from the upstream Arunachali communities, who would need to new , and the global community gains be compensated and relocated in order to accommodate in terms of climate change mitigation. Meanwhile, the for a large reservoir (Baruah 2012). However, these people of Northeast India, and especially Assam, are projects come to the detriment of the people living made to bear the social and environmental costs of downstream of the dams, especially those living in the hydropower development in the region. In addition, dam floodplains of Assam, who would instead benefit from building amplifies the negative repercussions of climate upstream dams with large reservoirs that can help buffer change for downstream communities, thus creating floods. “double losers.” 4.2. Unequal Distribution of Costs and Benefits 4.1. Unequal Distribution of Costs and Benefits Between Arunachal Pradesh and Assam: Between Arunachal Pradesh and Assam: Land Hydroelectricity and Changes to River Flows and Submergence vs. Flood Protection

The dams planned on the Brahmaputra River and its Because nearly all of the new dam projects for the tributaries were initially conceived by India’s central Brahmaputra river basin are located in the state government for hydropower generation, irrigation, of Arunachal Pradesh, Arunachali people will be and seasonal flood control. However, in 2008, India’s compensated for land submergence and the Arunachal new Hydropower Policy prioritized attracting private Pradesh state government will receive both large investment in dam-building projects to speed up the down payments for the projects and a fixed amount development of hydropower resources in Northeast India of free hydroelectricity from each dam. Assam, on (Water for Welfare Secretariat 2008). Private companies the other hand, must secure purchase agreements are now building approximately 90% of the new dams with the hydropower companies in order to receive planned for the Brahmaputra river basin (Vagholikar & hydroelectricity from the dams built just upstream of its Das 2010). The entry of private investors in dam projects territory. In addition, while the impacts of the dams on along the Brahmaputra led to a shift from multipurpose river flows and ecology will be felt by all communities projects to run-of-the-river19 projects, which have small downstream (regardless of state), riparian20 communities reservoirs and little flood control capacity. Run-of-the- in Assam could bear an even greater burden than those river projects maximize hydroelectricity production in Arunachal Pradesh (Baruah 2012). Assam’s agriculture while minimizing the amount of land submerged by the is centered around tea plantations, rice, silk farming, and

Figure 5. Children fishing in the Dikrong River in Assam (photo credit: Costanza Rampini, 2014).

LESSONS IN CONSERVATION ISSUE NO. 7 JANUARY 2017 30 CASE STUDY fishing. Rice agriculture in Assam’s floodplains depends Bhaskar 2013). This allows hydropower developers on the transport and deposition of sediment by the to sell energy to the highest bidder and is unlikely to Brahmaputra River and its tributaries for fertilization. benefit the relatively poor Northeastern states and their As dams alter the flow of sediments in the Brahmaputra people, who will be unable to compete with richer states river basin, they will affect the fertility of Assam’s in an open market. Finally, while local Assamese and floodplains (Vagholikar & Das 2010). In the winter, when Arunachali people hope to benefit from employment people rely on the river for irrigating their winter crops creation, low levels of literacy in both states, and and other important services, dams reduce river flows particularly in rural areas ( 2003; and cause unnatural daily fluctuations in flow levels as Rajiv Gandhi University 2006), make it improbable that the water behind the dam is released only during certain they will gain access to the high-level long-term jobs hours to meet peak demand (Vagholikar 2011). within the hydropower companies that are building Additionally, as dams change river flows, they degrade dams along the Brahmaputra. downstream and block fish movement, which negatively impacts fish species in the Brahmaputra river 5. CONCLUSION: DAMS, CLIMATE CHANGE, AND basin and the of , as fish THE PEOPLE OF NORTHEAST INDIA play an important role in their diet (Figure 5). Dams are promoted as a means to mitigate global climate 4.3. Exporting Hydroelectricity from Northeast India change and promote the sustainable development to India’s Mainland of Northeast India. The labeling of dams as a form of sustainable development has already been critiqued for The building of new dams in Arunachal Pradesh could various reasons, including their significant ecological and bring development to Northeast India through jobs and social impacts, emissions from dam reservoirs, infrastructure development, and is hence promoted as and the reduction in hydroelectricity generation as an of prosperity for this marginalized and largely climate change reduces river flows (Giles 2006; Vicuna rural region (Government of Arunachal Pradesh 2008). et al. 2008). Furthermore, in the case of hydropower However, a majority of the hydroelectricity produced by development along the Brahmaputra, dams also increase dams built in Arunachal Pradesh will be transported to the vulnerability21 of riparian communities in Arunachal other parts of the country to satisfy the growing energy Pradesh and Assam to the impacts of climate change needs of India’s urban centers (Baruah 2012), while the and diminish their capacity to adapt to those changes. social and ecological costs of the dams are felt locally by the people of Arunachal Pradesh and especially Assam. As mentioned before, an increase in the frequency of Plans to build a large-scale power grid to transport the severe floods is predicted to occur as a result of climate abundant hydropower resources of Northeast India change. On one hand, increasingly severe floods can to load centers located far away are already in the compromise the safety of dam infrastructure and works. For example, a 6,000 MW transmission system potentially cause dam failures, with serious downstream from Assam to Agra, a city of 1.3 million inhabitants implications (Blackshear et al. 2011). On the other hand, nearly 2,000 kilometers away in the northern state of by transforming river flows, ecosystems, local livelihoods, Uttar Pradesh, was completed and commenced power and local economies (WCD 2000), dams influence the flow in September 2015 (India Infoline News Service capacity of local communities to cope with increasingly 2015; MDONER 2014), and more will be built as more severe floods as a result of climate change. Along the hydropower projects are completed. Brahmaputra, dams are causing floods to become more abrupt, as floodwaters are released suddenly from Additionally, India’s National Hydro Policy and Tariff behind the dam floodgates with little to no warning Policy allow for 40% of the electricity generated by a to downstream communities (Vagholikar & Das 2010). private hydropower project to be sold at market price These flashfloods are making it harder for downstream rather than to pre-identified customers under long-term communities to prepare for the arrival of floods and it power purchase agreements (Vagholikar & Das 2010; is rendering traditional adaptation methods, such as

LESSONS IN CONSERVATION ISSUE NO. 7 JANUARY 2017 CASE STUDY 31 banana rafts, increasingly futile in the face of ever more still remains as to whether the historically marginalized destructive floods. Similar to climate change impacts, northeastern region of India will reap any benefit at all the building of over 140 dams in the Brahmaputra river from the damming of its rivers via local job creation, basin will make it increasingly difficult for the people of , and overall infrastructure development. Arunachal Pradesh and especially of Assam to live with recurrent summer floods, and may push a segment of 6. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS the population to abandon their riparian livelihoods to seek wage labor in larger towns and cities, where they Following guidelines from your instructor, discuss will become incorporated in a more carbon-intensive answers to the following questions: economy. 1. Explain the various environmental justice Dams along the Brahmaputra will benefit the global issues related to the building of dams along the community by curbing the overall amount of GHGs Brahmaputra and its tributaries in Arunachal emitted into the atmosphere, as well as India’s national Pradesh and Assam. Consider economic, ecological, and state governments, its energy sector, and its large and climate change related issues in your answer. urban centers that will import the hydroelectricity What solutions could be employed to mitigate the generated in Arunachal Pradesh. Yet dams exacerbate local ecological and social impacts of dam building the vulnerability of people of Northeast India to climate efforts and help redistribute some of the costs change impacts by further worsening floods, while and benefits from hydropower development in the undermining their adaptive capacity22 to floods. This region? overlap of negative outcomes relating to climate change 2. The building of dams is heralded both as a solution and dam building along the Brahmaputra is creating to the global challenge of climate change and a “double loser” scenario for riparian communities in as a path for sustainable development. Using the river basin (Leichenko & O’Brien 2008): people Northeast India as an example, explain in which living downstream of the dams in Arunachal Pradesh ways hydropower development can be mitigate and especially in Assam bear both a disproportionate global climate change and how it can be considered burden of climate change impacts in the form of more a form of sustainable development. In which ways severe floods, and a disproportionate amount of the might hydropower impacts contradict notions of costs of dam building efforts (Figure 6). The question sustainable development?

Figure 6. Venn diagram of climate change impacts, impacts of hydropower development, and the “double losers,” suffering from both.

“Double Losers”: Hydropower Climate change riparian development communities in NE India

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3. Should harnessing the hydropower potential GLOSSARY of the Brahmaputra River for mitigating climate change take precedence over the current uses of 1. Livelihood: a set of activities that allows a person to secure the river by local communities? Choose a position the basic necessities of life including food, water, shelter, and clothing. and support your argument with information from 2. South Asian summer monsoon: a season of heavy rains the module, or from cited, outside sources. caused by the movement of moist, cool air from the oceans 4. How are dams and climate change producing towards the warmer landmass, due to the changing of seasonal “double losers”? Who are these “double losers” and wind patterns. The South Asian monsoon occurs between what are they “losing”? To answer this question, the months of June and September and causes devastating floods through much of South Asia, including India. The create a Venn diagram (see Figure 6). In one circle, Himalayan Mountains play a key role in the South Asia summer list the impacts of climate change on river flows, monsoon by acting as a vertical barrier to the movement of floods, and ecosystems. In the other circle, list moist air, causing the air to rise and cool, therefore leading to the impacts of hydropower development on river precipitation (see Figure 7). flows, floods, and ecosystems. In the overlapping 3. Sediment: solid material, such as rocks, minerals, and organic material that has eroded and is transported and deposited to middle, describe how this is creating “double loser” a new location by water, wind, or ice. Sediment often deposits and what the combined impacts are for local nutrients onto the soil, increasing its fertility. communities living in the river basin. 4. Tributary: or affluent, is a freshwater stream that flows into a 5. Since the 1930s, dams have become synonymous larger stream or river. with modernization and development. Jawaharlal 5. River basin: the area of land drained by a river or stream and all its tributaries. Nehru, India’s first Prime Minister after India’s 6. River braiding: when a river deposits large amounts of independence from the British Empire, famously sediments causing it to divide into various channels that split proclaimed dams the “temples of modern India.” off and rejoin each other, giving it a braided appearance. Similarly, hydropower companies and the Indian 7. Floodplain: an area of land nearby a river or stream that is government accuse anti-dam activists in Northeast prone to flooding. Floodplains are usually very fertile as a result of the deposit of nutrient-rich sediment from the river, India of being anti-development and slowing the and therefore are also generally heavily populated by human country’s economic growth. How might you argue communities. against them on this point? 8. Ecosystem services: benefits people obtain from ecosystems often grouped into four categories: 1) provisioning services

Figure 7. Diagram of the role of the Himalayas in the South Asian summer. The warm waters of the Indian Ocean evaporate and are transported towards the land by the wind. As the air faces the physical barrier of the Himalayas, it rises and cools down, and causes precipitation of fresh water in Precipitation higher elevations (illustration: Nadav Gazit).

Wind

Evaporation

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such as food and water, 2) regulating services such as flood balancing social, economic, and environmental objectives and control provided by wetlands and forests, 3) cultural needs in the process of decision-making to ensure long-term services such as spiritual and recreational, 4) and supporting benefits. The concept has been the subject of various critiques services, such as nutrient cycling. for being too vague, for promoting corporate “” 9. Anthropogenic climate change: the addition of greenhouse and development activities, such as dam building, that in fact gases (see 11) into the atmosphere as a result of human have significant social and environmental impacts. activities, such as the burning of fossil and , 18. Environmental justice: broadly defined, environmental justice leading to the intensification of the (see 13), is a body of work and a social movement that is concerned with and thus the warming of Earth’s climate. Anthropogenic climate and critical of the unequal distribution of environmental costs change is largely attributed to the advent of the Industrial and benefits between groups of people, especially as a result Revolution in the 19th century. of race, ethnicity, and income. 10. Climate justice: a body of work and a social movement that 19. Run-of-the-river dam: a dam with little or no water storage is primarily concerned with the equity dimensions of climate behind the dam, and which relies primarily on the natural flow change. By recognizing the difference in resources use, of the river for power generation. development paths, and emissions contributions between 20. Riparian: of, relating to, or situated near the banks of a river rich and poor countries (as well as between groups of people), or stream. this concept acknowledges the differentiated responsibilities 21. Vulnerability: the degree to which a social or ecological of nations and people for causing anthropogenic climate system is exposed to and adversely affected by a hazardous change, as well as the unequal distribution of benefits and event. Conventional risk assessments examine vulnerability costs as a result of climate change impacts. Climate justice is a as a result of exposure and damage, while other approaches component of environmental justice (see 16). have drawn attention to how characteristics such as ethnicity, 11. Greenhouse gas (GHG): a gas in the atmosphere that absorbs religion, caste membership, gender, age, political power, and radiation from the Earth’s surface, producing the so- access to resources make some groups more vulnerable than called “greenhouse effect” which warms Earth’s surface. The others. main GHGs include water vapor, , methane, 22. Adaptive capacity to climate change: the capacity of a and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). The addition of greenhouse social or environmental system to adapt to climate change gases to the atmosphere as a result of human activities, such and its effects. Diversity, flexibility, memory, and novelty are as the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation, intensifies the important components of adaptive capacity. In social systems, greenhouse effect, thus warming Earth’s climate (see 9). information and knowledge, good institutions, and overall 12. Threshold: critical values or limits, which, if crossed, can development (e.g., poverty eradication, food security, access generate serious or socially unacceptable environmental to resources, literacy, equity, livelihood diversification) are all change and/or irreversible consequences. In the case of a considered key to improving adaptive capacity. glacier-fed river such as the Brahmaputra, the glaciers that are the source of the river are considered to have crossed a critical REFERENCES threshold when the river begins experiencing a decrease in dry- season discharge. Apurv, T., R. Mehrotra, A. Sharma, M. K. Goyal, and S. Dutta. 13. Food security: people are food secure when they have physical, social, and economic access at all times to sufficient, safe, and 2015. Impact of climate change on floods in the Brahmaputra nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and preferences basin using CMIP5 decadal predictions. Journal of Hydrology for a healthy life. 527:281–291. Baraer, M., B. G. Mark, J. M. McKenzie, T. Condom, J. Bury, K. 14. Global North: a term used to describe countries that have a high ranking in the United Nations Development Programme’s Huh, C. Portocarrero, J. Gomez, and S. Rathay. 2012. 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